Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Claude Monet's Gardens in Giverny

Okay, just one more post for the evening. I was behind in posting due to not having internet access, so now's the time to catch up.

Finding our way to Giverny was a bit more challenging, but, with Diane being the top-notched navigator she is, we methodically found our way to the near-mythical village where Claude Monet had painted so many of his garden and pond scenes.

His house

Garden

Towards the pond

Giverny receives nearly one half million visitors per year - quite a lot for a postage-sized village. It felt like 300,000 of them were here with us today! A long line to get in to the museum. And once in, we found other hoards of people waiting to get in to his house, his gardens and the pond area. Luckily, everyone was respectful of each other and things worked out. Walking through Monet’s atelier and seeing all the paintings hanging on the walls from top to bottom was a powerful and emotional experience. I could only imagine what it would have been like in the early 1900‘s, when he was walking these paths and sitting down to paint a scene.

After finishing the tour of Monet’s house, we strolled through Giverny, had a light lunch with two cafes alonge (expressos with a bit of water added to them), and headed for Gent, Belgium.